The Little Bag of Life and Death
by folie du jour
Summary: A collection of drabbles and other short miscellany. Current: Gypsy years. [Kay, Leroux].
1. don juan

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Leroux

Genre(s): Drama, Angst, Humor, Horror

Rating: T

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A/N: Four themes to the symphony. Erik's POV. And yes, that is a blatant "reference" to Irving Stone's _The Agony and the Ecstasy_ in the second movement.

* * *

**don juan**

_birth_

The idea twisted into being upon the bleak waters of Lake Averne. Composed of eerie mists and strains of _Faust_, it seemed to be a mischievous gift from sly Mephisto, one ever delighting in the collection of the damned. Rowing to siren-song and harmonizing the _Kyrie_, he shaped it, gently, tenderly, until it blossomed into the grandest vanishing act ever witnessed on earth – a fine final performance, indeed.

_life_

They bled into the crystalline air and stained the room with grief, and anger, and pain, and every other wonder experienced by man. What deadened echoes that had permeated the walls revealed but a foretaste of the passion existing and burning and all-consuming. It was agony, and it was ecstasy, a testament to the brilliance that plagued every great mind since creation. He could not leave it, no – to be spat upon and shunned as he had, because they had feared him, and they would fear it – no, he could not leave it. So he would take it with him.

_interlude_

For a moment, he was visited by regret. The young lover and the wise mentor were about to perish in their heroic struggle – hardly a fairy-tale ending. But then, this was not a fairy tale, and they were suffering on the account of love and morality, beings unfamiliar to him since birth. What glimmer of compassion left within him might have been used on the daroga, but it vanished when he remembered all of his generous warnings, foolishly and emphatically discarded. It was too late anyhow; she had already chosen the grasshopper.

_death_

He did not seem to notice her pallid face, or her wild shivering. Her panicked scream did not alarm him as he wrested her wrist and dragged her into his crimson room. Snatching up his magnum opus from the organ bench, he threw it into his coffin before lifting her, profoundly crazed, into the coffin as well. As he entered, he was oblivious to her screeching, her fingers desperately clawing at his dead flesh. When he closed the lid, the only sound he could hear were the last euphoric, hellish chords of _Don Juan_.

And his soul was filled with _triumph_.


	2. tragédie en musique

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Leroux, Kay

Genre(s): Angst, Humor

Rating: K+

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A/N: An actual 100-word drabble.

**

* * *

**

**tragédie en musique**

I see them every night, prancing about the stage in gaudy costumes, blathering about lost love and cruel fate, shrieking and reeling with shrill and maudlin tones. The audiences, taken with the swagger, _enraptured_, as it were, by those revolting displays of hollow passion, dare shed glassy tears while bemoaning the demise of their beloved heroes. Surely the imaginations of their most esteemed composers can be put to better use than dreaming up such convoluted tripe, for not an echo of music can be found amidst the _tragedy_.

Tragedy? They mock me. Those fools would never know a real tragedy.

* * *

A/N: In Leroux's book, Erik expresses contempt for opera during one of Christine's "visits." The title can refer to the actual genre of opera, but can be taken literally as well. BTW, opera can be pretty awesome (though it's an acquired taste), so check it out! 


	3. double dactyls

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Leroux

Genre(s): General, Humor

Rating: K+

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A/N: Some nonsense whipped up upon finding a new poetry form. One for each leading character. Probably don't make sense unless you've read the book...and pay attention to the titles (the first two, anyway).

* * *

**Phantom Victorian**

**---**

Scorpion, Grasshopper

Ghost of the Opera

Wanted an angel to

Be his dear wife.

---

She was capricious,

Puerilevellian.

Genius responds curtly:

Love, or your life?

* * *

**Musique et…la Lune**

---

Do re mi, do re mi

Poor Swedish ingénue,

Understood only her

Father's tall tales.

---

Heard a false angel and

Anticipatedly

Lost her mind ev'ry time

She sang the scales.

* * *

**In the Torture Chamber**

---

Higgledy, piggledy

Young Vicomte de Chagny

Hated that man who had

Only a voice.

---

Now he's in misery,

Accommodatingly

Wanting to die before

She gives her choice.

* * *

A/N: This form, in case you're interested, is the double dactyl. Written well, they are extremely entertaining and more amusing than limericks. I think they're supposed to be funny, but... 


	4. kyrie

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Leroux

Genre(s): General, Angst

Rating: K+

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A/N: This started out as prose in a rather different tone, but I couldn't get it to work, and I was stuck on poetry at the moment...

**

* * *

**

**kyrie**

**---**

they are music-drops

plucked from a suspended net

in mid-air, they ripened in the night;

dusky sweet skin, bitter fruit.

---

they are light, and burst with each touch

to stain the soft souls

of their inquisitive listeners

witnessing a joy

---

or a sorrow.

they could not have come

from a finer vine, luminous

in timbre and hue.

---

a pity they stir so fleetingly

once tasted by wandering lives.

they journey, rolling the eternal cadence

and strumming a deathless song

---

caught by his weary and able hand,

they bleed.

he had wanted a wedding march, but

this would suffice as both.


	5. the moment of salvation

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General

Rating: K

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A/N: Observations of a daroga.

* * *

**the moment of salvation**

His room is filled with delicate curiosities of glass and silk. Whirling spheres and spinning gyroscopes, miniature moving trains and ships in bottles, indescribable baubles and curios puffing out cool streams of steam and glowing with iridescent colors. A collection of mementos from past travels to the East hangs from the ceiling and fills glass cabinets. Lacquered cups and jade ornaments, paper kites and lanterns, scrolls of ancient wisdom copied in meticulous calligraphy and assorted silk hangings. His walls are covered with rare maps of antiquity and exquisite blueprints finished to various degrees.

But the greatest treasure remains in a locked drawer in an inconspicuous corner of the room. Man's most intimate musings and most magnificent achievements can be found in that drawer, scrawled in bright red ink. But it is the truth, the humanity found hidden within those strange little markings that make them great. Though intangible, they pierce the very soul.

Surely a monster could not create such beauty.


	6. defeat

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Leroux, Webber

Genre(s): General, Angst

Rating: K

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A/N: One night, in her dressing room.

* * *

**defeat**

She reaches up to tuck in a golden wisp of hair. The mirror reflects her shining eyes, her blushing cheeks. She lowers her head and smoothes out a wrinkle in the fabric of her dress. She looks away and smiles.

_Oh, Christine._


	7. the rosy hours

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General, Horror

Rating: T

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A/N: Ah, neglect...my muse left. Anyway, I'm not sure how clear the previous chapter, **defeat**, is, so let me clarify: from Erik's POV, it is the night when Christine meets Raoul again.

Current drabble! It's not exactly "horror," but...

* * *

**the rosy hours**

The glass slips from his hand right before it touches the table. Its deadened clinks seem to echo, pounding his already aching head. He swiftly withdraws his hand and leans forward from his cushioned armchair to observe the growing splatter upon his lush carpet. A few stray drops and a dying stream lead him to the tabletop. Thin tendrils, delicately etched in the glass, sprout from a pool of red. He looks into the crimson mess and catches the enduring reflection of black silk staring back at him. Mesmerized, he reaches towards the image, only to find it shattered within chaotic ripples. He lifts up his hand, eyes drowning in red, and begins to laugh.

* * *

A/N: Oh, it's only a bit of wine! 


	8. opus

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General, Horror

Rating: T

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A/N: A creator proud of his creation.

* * *

**opus**

He smiles delightedly to himself. The bright sunshine streams in through a slit in the curtains, reflecting off the splendid glass in glorious, iridescent colors. He feels not the inescapable heat burning into his hands, nor the searing thirst cutting into his throat. _He_ only feels beauty.

* * *

A/N: Test run for Madame la Khanum. 


	9. appreciation

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General, Horror, Humor

Rating: T

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A/N: Erik doesn't get much...

* * *

**appreciation**

When he is finished with his performance, he lightly steps away from the rudely silent figures sitting about on the floor. She is the only one who claps, and he is flattered. Flattered enough to resist the urge to break her neck as well.

* * *

A/N: The Khanum is impressed. 


	10. the things found within a tent

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General, Angst

Rating: K+

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A/N: Erik during his gypsy years.

* * *

**the things found within a tent**

They are sitting entranced, lulled by a single, lustrous note. Petals of sheer wonder budding, and blooming, and falling.

He is looking at them now as he would never dare to outside, and what he is seeing is extraordinary. Glowing faces, joyous eyes. Tremulous smiles brightening with swirls of magic-in-air. Genuine tears glistening upon tranquil cheeks.

He is reaching for his mask. The exquisite silence shatters.


	11. the puppeteer

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): Horror, Humor

Rating: T

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A/N: This is your brain on drugs. ;)

* * *

**the puppeteer**

He laughs into the girl's face. When he only receives a cold stare, he whips off his mask. Her expression of horror does not change. When he shakes her, she flails about. Limply. Like a marionette. He goes to get some string.

* * *

A/N: Hmm... 


	12. a celebration

**Disclaimer:** _Le Fantome de l'Opera_ is the property of Gaston Leroux. All adaptations are the properties of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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Influence(s): Kay, Leroux

Genre(s): General, Angst

Rating: K

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A/N: Gypsy years. I know the song wasn't written yet, but...

* * *

**a celebration**

He can't sleep, so he sits up a little, leaning against silvery bars. The moon, though round, casts little light upon his bleak surroundings. A bitter wind sweeps through his threadbare blanket. He doesn't mind. He's used to the cold. To pass the time, he softly starts to sing…_happy birthday…_


End file.
